Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Forum Signature Links
-
After the new update from google, are Forum Signature Links still very good to use linkbuliding or?
-
**Hey, this is exactly right: **chase the marketing, not the algorithm
If you search around your topic and find frequent forum listings in the search results then get in on those pages and help out and that link back to your site is some good solid branding that will drive referral traffic.
On the flipside, if someone stumbles across that post and you have chipped in with:
"Yes, very good information, I am thanking you muchley"
And have a signature like
Keyword Spam | more Keyword Links | Blarghh SEO Puke
Then all you are doing is indicating to Google that you are trying to manipulate the results for those keywords so you will likely do more harm than good.
The spammy link algorithm aspects like Penguin are only going to get more aggressive so as Corey said above: chase the marketing, not the algorithm!
Marcus
-
And of course, you should not join all the forums that come along the way. I have seen people skipping reputed forums because they do not give instant back link from the signature section. This is a sickening mentality. Participating in forum is about helping others and not just getting a link back from them. So, if you wish you can add a link back to your website with Branded Keyword, avoid exact matched anchor texts like plague and you will be just fine.
-
They do get indexed and they can help as much as any other link. And, like everything, you're best off doing it without embarrassing your brand. So,
YES: If you want to plop a PR rep on a forum to make a good 15 or so useful contributions to the conversation, with a real signature, like you might attach to an email, compliant with that particular forum's signature guidelines.
NO: If you want to buy 100,000 forum signature links blasted using a piece of software.
As with everything, chase the marketing, not the algorithm. That will get you a lot further than worrying about what Google will be doing in 2013, because even if you dodge a bullet in the short-term, Google's end goals are always the same.
-
If your idea is to slap on your signature with anchor text heavy links on every forum possible, then no they are not a very good thing to be doing post-2012.
There's a place for them though. If you're participating on a forum that's relevant to your website then I don't see why you can't place a link or two to your website in the signature. But I would avoid trying to put manipulative anchor text in there. Just use the plain URL or a branded term like your business or domain name.
Also, google recently updated their webmaster guidelines with a forum signature example of what you should not be doing:
Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature, for example:
_Thanks, that’s great info!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should I disavow these links?
Hi all, I have a ski website that I am currently performing a toxic backlink audit on. I have noted that a lot of the links being flagged as toxic/spammy by the tool I am using seem to be the same/similar sites with different URLs. The sites are vaguely related to skiing (relating to helicopter travel options for travelling to ski resorts) but it is concerning me that there are so many of them and they are being flagged as so toxic.
Link Building | | SolveWebMedia
Do you think it is worth disavowing these? Or contacting the owner to ask them to remove the link? I have included an example of some of the links below. https://www.cannes-helicopters.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://nice-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://monaco-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5 Slightly different site but same favicon icon:
https://monaco-helicopter.co.uk/index.php?menuopen=21&showcontent=5
https://www.whitetracks-holidays.com/Helicopter_Transfers_Villars_Switzerland.htm Thanks in advance for any advice / help!0 -
Spammy links
Hi Guys, I have a case which seems to occur more often for our customers. The websites of our customers seem to receive tons of backlinks from websites all over the world (China, Russia, Ukrain, etc). It’s spam we never asked for, we didn’t buy any dodgy linkbuilding packages or anything. Do any of you guys have experience with this matter? We try to disavow the links but it takes too much time and we will never manage to disavow 100% of all links. Examples are www.keukensduitsland.nl and www.m2beveiliging.nl Hope anyone has experience and maybe even solutions for this matter. Thanks!
Link Building | | Happy-SEO1 -
Is there any importance of email signature links from SEO perspective?
We see website links in email signatures. As recently Google has changed its inbox format showing social email (Google+) separately. Is there any importance of email signature links from SEO perspective?
Link Building | | seoptus0 -
A link with "return false"- OSE sees as a No Followed Link
Hello, I couldn't find a clear answer to the impact on SEO for a link written in this way: [" class="expert_info" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">](w</span>ww.yourwebsite.com<span style=) [Does the "return false" act as a "no follow"? I came across this in our link data in Open Site Explorer which lists these links all as "no follows." However, an engineer I spoke to said that it shouldn't impact search engine behavior. Any ideas? Thank you in advance! -Sarah K.](w</span>ww.yourwebsite.com<span style=)
Link Building | | OneMedical0 -
Do links within imbeddable widgets carry link juice?
I'm dipping my toes into infographic design. On of my desired outcomes is to gain links by having other sites embed my graphic. I'm considering using Tableau's interactive data visualization software to do so; thus creating a widget, embedding it on my blog, and including the embed code for others to post. Is it possible to include a juice passing link in such an infographic? I know its possible to include links inside the tableau graphic but not sure if they have straight SEO value. If these links are not juice passing would it be better to go with a simple image link that passes value?
Link Building | | JesseCWalker1 -
How many links per week is too fast in link building?
For a new website/blog how many links per week looks suspicious or hurt the rankings?
Link Building | | aaran1 -
Links on the same keyword
When is linking from one particular keyword to much. At what point could link building from one keyword be considered spam and potentially delist a site ? Is it possible for a site to be delisted for having to many links from the same keyword ? Heard linking from the website name is more important following recent changes. I try and link from a selection of 3 to 4 keywords. Thanks for your help
Link Building | | onlinemediadirect0